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Rare Earth Resources
Rare earth metals are also known by the lightest member, lanthanum, as the lanthanides. Lanthanide is derived from the Greek word lanthanein, which means to lie hidden General Information The Rare Earth Metals consist of the f-block elements. Despite their name, rare earth elements are relatively plentiful in the Earth's crust. Cerium is the 25th most abudent element at 68 parts per million which is similar to Copper. However, these elements do not form concentrations as rare earth metals that can be economically exploitable. This is what lead to the name Rare-earth rathe than earths as they were known as before. The first mineral discovered was gadolinite, a compound of Cerium, Yttrium, Iron, Silicon, and other elements. Many of the rare-earth elements have their names derived from where they were found, yttrium for example was named after the town of Ytterby in Sweden where it was found. Several other elements bear names derived from this location. Rare Earth Metals can react with a wide variety of metals and non-metals to form a number of different compounds that each have distinct chemical behaviors. For this reason Rare Earth metals are being used more and more now that they are put into so many items that we use everyday these products include: Hybrid cars, Hard drives, Wind powered turbines, catalytic converters, MRIs, and even Ipods. Obtaining the Rare Earth Metals Until 1948, most of the world's rare earth metals were found in sand deposits in India and Brazil. In the 1950's, South Africa became the world's rare earth metal source, after veins of monazite were discovered there. Through the 1960's till the 1980's the Mountian pass rare earth mine in California was the leading producer of rare earth metals. India and South Africa still have a margin of the rare earth production market, but today China is clearly the world's leading Rare Earth metal producer. China produced 95% of the worlds rare earth supply ins 2009. Due to recent demand in these rare earth metals for different consumer products-(ie. hard drives, and MRI's)-there has been a strain on the rare earth metal supply. There are growing concerns that if new sources are found there could be a shortage. Resources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/what-are-rare-earth-metals http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/news/important-rare-earth-elements#slide-1 http://www.tasmanmetals.com/s/Applications.asp http://seekingalpha.com/article/103972-rare-earth-metals-not-so-rare-but-valuable Elements and their uses Scandium - Used for Aerospace components, and mercury vapor lamps. Yttrium - Yttrium Aluminium Garnet laser, High temperature superconductors, Microwave filters, energy-efficient light bulbs. Lanthanum - High refractive index glass, flint, hydrogen storage, battery-electrodes, camera lenses, fluid catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries. Cerium - Oxidizing agent, polishing powder, Yellow colors in glass and ceramics, catalyst for self-cleaning ovens, Cracking catalyst for oil refineries. Flints for lighters Praseodymium - Rare-earth magnets, lasers, carbon arc lighting, colorant in glasses and enamels, used in welding goggles glass, flint products. Neodymium - Rare-earth magnets, lasers, violet colors in glass and ceramics, ceramic capacitors, hard drive magnets. Promethium - Nuclear batteries Samarium - Rare-earth magnets, lasers, neutron capture, masers (Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation). Europium - Red and blue phospors, lasers, mercury-vapor lamps, NMR (Nuclear magnetic resonance). Gadolinium - Rare-earth magnets, high refractive index glass or garnets, lasers, x-ray tubes, computer memories, neutron capture, MRI contrast agent, NMR. Terbium - Green phosphors, lasers, fluorescent lamps. Dysprosium - Rare-earth magnets, Lasers. Holmium - Lasers Erbium - Lasers, Vanadium steel. Thulium - Portable X-ray machines Ytterbium - infrared lasers, chemical reducing agent. Lutetium - Positron emission tomography - PET scan detectors, high refractive index glass. Production of Rare Earth Metals Although Rare Earth Metals are fairly common in technology today, they are called “rare” earth metals because they rarely exist in their pure form. Instead, they have to be mined and extracted from a mixture of elements, making them costly to produce. Along with being difficult to mine and extract, the process of purifying them can be extremely damaging to the environment. As of 2010, China was one of the only countries willing to put in the effort to mine and export rare earth metals. The remain the major exporter of rare earth metals to the United States, with some supply coming from Russia, India, and Brazil. Environmental Impact Category:Global Impact of Rare Earth Metals Category:Acquisition of Rare Earth Metals Category:Production of Rare Earth Metals